Entry bubble Laryngitis: Say What?

By: Nancy | January 17, 2008 | Category: Health

mime covering his mouthWell, with the exception of Sam so far, we seem to be on a health kick this week at Gov Gab headquarters, where I find myself at a loss for words. And as the Gov Gab team can tell you, that's a rare thing.

I'm speechless because I got an upper respiratory infection last week that left me with a spectacular case of laryngitis.

"Call your doctor!" every concerned and exasperated friend here at the office is urging. Call my doctor? Sure, I'll tap Morse code into the mouthpiece of the phone. :) Ok, I'll make an appointment if it doesn't get better in a couple more days. I promise. In the meantime, I'm doing a little medical research on USA.gov.

Laryngitis is an inflammation of your larynx (aka your voice box or the "vocal fold" ) and your vocal cords. It's usually associated with straining your voice from overuse--like too much talking, singing or screaming for your favorite sports team; from inhaling irritants like smoke or other fumes or from a cold or the flu.

MedLine Plus from the National Institutes of Health has a great section on laryngitis. It says to contact your health care provider if you have trouble breathing or swallowing or if you've been dealing with the hoarseness for two weeks or more. I'm just at the one week mark, am eating everything in sight and I'm breathing fine.

Since most cases of laryngitis associated with a cold are viral and not bacterial, antibiotics won't help. What does help is resting your voice, drinking lots of water and soothing things like tea and honey, and using a humidifier to keep the air you're breathing moist. Good timing. The humidifier we ordered for the office I share with some of my fellow Gov Gabbers arrived last week. Our office was pretty dry, so thanks to the humidifier, we're all enjoying being able to breathe better and not having dry skin.

Sure, laryngitis is inconvenient. I'm having to rely a lot more on email and instant messenger to communicate with my coworkers. But it's actually kind of fun too. My lack of a voice has become something of a behavioral science experiment. My hearing is as good as ever, but most people are responding to my voicelessness by either acting out what they want to tell me or by whispering back to me. Have I mentioned that my coworkers are adorable and that I love them? They are, and I do. And a couple have said that, after this week of laryngitis, my miming skills are not half bad.

So now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go pull an invisible rope or something.

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